


of magical studies and caffeine

by m3owww



Series: maribat [9]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Maribat - Fandom, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, F/M, Fluff, Gen, I spent way too much time on the Harry Potter Wiki looking things up, a lot of quidditch actually, this is literally the first time I've written a fic that isn't angst central
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:13:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26396218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/m3owww/pseuds/m3owww
Summary: There's a new students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, a French transfer from Beauxbatons.Tim Drake and his new fellow Ravenclaw are locked in a battle, each trying to best the other in every class.The rest of the students are terrified.
Relationships: Tim Drake/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: maribat [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1842979
Comments: 45
Kudos: 326





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A terrible summary, but whatever.
> 
> I'm posting yet another fic because _I have no self control._
> 
> This fic was lightly inspired by the amazing @YukinaMika, otherwise known as @bunathebunny on tumblr.
> 
> beta read by [pudgeee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pudgeee/pseuds/pudgeee).

“Dupain-Cheng, Marinette.” Professor Prince, Head of Gryffindor House, reads off her scroll, and Marinette walks to the stool, head held high. Her insides jitter with nervousness, but her hands are steady as she places the hat on her head.

_ Ooh, we have an interesting one. _ The hat muses.  _ You have the bravery of a lion, the ambition of the snake, the loyalty of the badger and the intelligence of the eagle. Where would you like to go, young one? _

_I just want to get away from the drama of Beauxbatons, focus on my studies and start over._ _Whatever house works best for that._ Marinette tells the hat. 

_ If you’re sure… _ The hat says carefully. “RAVENCLAW!” It screams to the Great Hall. 

Marinette places the hat back on the stool and walks to the blue and bronze-clad table. She sits down next to a dark-haired, blue-eyed boy and extends her hand. “Hello. I’m Marinette. I’m a fourth year student, I just transferred from Beauxbatons.”

The boy takes her hand with a firm grip. “Tim Drake. Also a fourth year. Nice to meet you.”

Another boy with brown hair and green eyes on the other side of Tim grins. “Bart Allen. You transferred from Beauxbatons? What was it like there? I bet it was totally crash.”

“Ah, well,” Marinette winces. “I did not mind the curriculum there. My classmates, however, left a lot to be desired. The environment became too toxic for me to stay. Also, what does ‘crash’ mean? English is not my first language, and I am not very familiar with its slang.”

“Crash is a good thing! Like, meeting you is crash because we have a new Ravenclaw in our year! And collecting a new Chocolate Frog card is crash because you’re one step closer to completing the collection! But Tim falling asleep while walking up the stairs during finals is definitely not crash because he almost toppled over the railing and fell down three stories.” Bart talks really quickly, making Marinette’s brain reel as she tries to translate and absorb the information.

Tim groans. “It was finals week. I was tired. Need we bring that up again?”

“I can relate.” Marinette smiles. “I drank more coffee than water last year when studying for finals.”

Bart sighs. “Merlin’s beard, there’s two of them now.” He suddenly perks up. “Hey Tim, your brother’s next!”

Their heads swivel back towards the front of the Hall as Professor Prince calls out “Damian Wayne.” A dark-haired boy strides to the stool like he owns the school.

“Slytherin.” Tim mutters under his breath. “Definitely Slytherin.”

Sure enough, the Hat screams “SLYTHERIN!” as soon as it touches his head. Damian proudly walks to the Slytherin table.

Headmaster Wayne stands up and claps twice to silence everyone. He gives a short, inspirational speech before telling them to ‘dig in.’ Food suddenly appears on the table in front of them, and Marinette decides to try a bit of everything. Hogwarts food is different from the French food at Beauxbatons.

Bart is rapidly shoveling food into his mouth. Tim sees her looking and shrugs. “I don’t really know either. His metabolism is amazing.”

“The amount of food he has consumed in the past minute would be a full meal for me.” Marinette states dubiously. “Are you sure he is alright?”

“Yup!” Bart pauses for a moment and gives her a thumbs up. “Totally crash!” He goes back to eating.

“He’s just hungry because my dad took way longer with this year’s speech.” Tim takes a bite of his food.

Marinette frowns. “Your dad?”

“His dad’s the headmaster!” Bart pipes up. “He’s also got a ton of siblings!”

Marinette brightens. “Oh? I am an only child, but I’ve always wanted siblings. Tell me about them!”

“Well, all of us are adopted. Our dad has a thing for dark haired children with blue eyes.” Tim says lightly. “The oldest is Richard Grayson, but everyone calls him Dick. He was a Hufflepuff, graduated three years ago. He’s an Auror at the Ministry now. He was also Head Boy.”

“The second oldest is my sister Cass. She’s a seventh year Hufflepuff, and also Head Girl. You see the girl with the short black hair, laughing over there? That’s her. She’s a trained Leglimens, and really good at reading body language. You literally cannot hide anything from her.”

“The third oldest is Jason. He’s a sixth year Gryffindor. He and his friends Roy and Kori have some sort of deal with Peeves, the resident poltergeist, and they pull off pranks every once in a while that land them in detention and get Jason a Howler from Alfred, our butler.”

“Damian is the only biological son. As you probably saw, he’s a first year Slytherin. Damian really likes swords for some reason, and is a bit prickly.” Bart elbows Tim.

“He literally stabbed me when I said he wasn’t terrifying enough for me to stop being friends with you!”

“Okay, very prickly.” Tim amends. “He’s got a soft spot for Jon Kent though. He’s a first year Gryffindor now, I think. Jon’s the son of the Muggle Studies professor. He’s really nice and cheerful, the complete opposite of Damian.”

Marinette blinks. “That’s a lot of siblings.” She enjoys talking to Tim and Bart. Their wit and humour are a welcome change from Lila’s subtle digs and Alya’s direct insults. Marinette could get used to this.

* * *

Tim and Bart show her the way to Ravenclaw tower.

“To enter, you need to solve a riddle.” Tim says. “Sometimes, there will be up to twenty kids stuck outside the tower trying to solve the riddle.”

He knocks on the large wooden doors. The eagle knocker gives them a riddle. “White bird, featherless, flying out of paradise, flying over sea and land, dying in my hand. What is it?”

“A snowflake.” Bart answers. 

The doors swing open, revealing a large room with dark blue walls and towering bronze bookshelves. A lit fireplace crackles heartily in the center of the room, surrounded by dark blue couches and armchairs. Bronze tables and chairs are arranged in various places around the room. Two bronze spiral staircases, one on the left and one on the right of the entrance, lead upwards to where Marinette assumes the dormitories are.

“The girl’s rooms are on the right.” Tim tells her. “Good night, Marinette.”

“ _ Bonne nuit _ , Tim, Bart! Thanks for your help!” Marinette waves before climbing up the stairs with a smile on her face. 

The other three Ravenclaw girls in her year are named Bridgette, Allegra, and Raven (ironically.) They’re friendly enough, albeit a little distant, but hey, they’ve known each other since their first year and Marinette just joined their dorm.

Ravenclaw Tower is warm and cozy. As she sinks into the dark blue blankets on her bed, she thinks it feels like home.

* * *

The first class they have is double Transfiguration with Hufflepuff. Bart sits down next to a golden-skinned boy with black hair and brown eyes, who presses a kiss to his cheek.

“That’s Bart’s boyfriend, Jaime.” Tim tells Marinette. He sits down in the empty seat next to her.

Marinette grins. “They make a very cute couple.”

Professor Prince starts the lesson with a question. “Who can tell me the correct incantation to Vanish any object?” Both Marinette and Tim’s hands shoot up in the air.

“Mister Drake?”

“ _ Evanesco. _ ” Tim replies, shooting Marinette a smug look. Ravenclaws are competitive when it comes to their passions. Transfiguration happens to be one of Tim’s.

Marinette smirks back. She was always good at Transfiguration. If Tim wants to compete, she’ll give him competition.

“Correct, Mister Drake. Take ten points for Ravenclaw.” Professor Prince says. “I want you to Vanish the goblet on your desk. You have the entire period. Begin.”

The classroom fills with the sound of students saying “Evanesco!” in varying tones of voice. Marinette points her wand at her goblet.

“Evanesco.” She says easily. The goblet promptly vanishes. Professor Prince claps. 

“Wonderful, Miss Dupain-Cheng. Twenty points to Ravenclaw. Would you like to assist others?”

Marinette grins. “I’d love to.” She turns to Tim. “Would you like some assistance?”

Tim glares, though there is no heat behind it. “Oh, you’re on.”

They compete in every single class that week. Potions, Arithmancy, Herbology, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Ancient Runes, and Charms sees the two Ravenclaws racking up house points as they try to best each other.

Tim and Marinette go head to head in Transfiguration, Potions, and DADA, but Tim is better in Arithmancy and Ancient Runes, both of which Marinette always had a little trouble with. 

Similarly, Marinette is very talented at Herbology and has a natural affinity for Charms. Tim is terrible at taking care of plants, though he’s good at chopping them up for Potions, and his Summoning Charm pulled Professor Zatara across the room instead of the pillow he pointed his wand at.

On Saturday, Marinette approaches Tim, whose nose is buried in his Herbology textbook, in the common room. “I propose a strategic alliance.”

Tim raises his head. “What do you mean?”

“We are equals in many subjects.” Marinette explains. “But there are others in which you and I struggle, and the other excels in. I could help you with Herbology and Charms, and you could teach me Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. We will arrange a time and place to tutor each other in these subjects. It would benefit both of us, as well as our house overall.”

“That sounds like a plan to me.” Tim smiles.

They end up scheduling bi-weekly study sessions in the library on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 2 pm. The study sessions prove useful, and Tim successfully summons pillow after pillow in Charms while Marinette goes through her Arithmancy homework in considerably less time. 

While repotting Bouncing Bulbs, Tim wrangles his Bulb into the pot without much effort as others get smacked in the face. Professor Isley is ecstatic at his success.

Marinette reads the assigned passage in Ancient Runes with ease, prompting Professor Nabu to award Ravenclaw twenty points.

The other students find it odd that the two Ravenclaws study together and still compete ferociously in other subjects. 

Professor Lance paired them off to practice casting and deflecting hexes in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Tim and Marinette spent the entire lesson practically dueling, flinging every hex that they could think of at the other. They walked out of that class tired but unscathed, as they both successfully deflected every hex thrown their way.

In Potions, both Tim and Marinette’s Wit-Sharpening potions were deemed exceptional by Professor West. He gave them twenty-five points each. “Tied again.” Marinette mutters under her breath to Tim. 

“One of these days, I’ll beat you.” Tim shoots back with a grin.

“Dream on.” Marinette smirks.

When transfiguring birds into water goblets, Tim was the first to successfully complete it. Marinette retaliated by adding ornate designs into her goblet. Tim made his next one even more intricate, and they carried on like that for the rest of the lesson. When the period ended, both students had fifteen goblets on their desks, each one more beautiful than the last. Professor Prince gave them both thirty points.

“What exactly is the point of competing?” Bart questions them at lunch one day.

Marinette shrugs. “We’re Ravenclaws, aren’t we? It helps make sure we’re doing the best we can do in class in addition to being fun.”

Tim hums his agreement as he chugs another of coffee. Bart suddenly shrieks, quickly ripping the mug out of his hand. “That’s your fourth cup! It’s nine in the morning!”

“I’m a Ravenclaw.” Tim grumbles. “I am invested in my hobbies. It happens to be that my side hobby is solving cold cases in the early hours of the morning. Now give me the coffee before I hex you.”

* * *

“Quidditch tryouts?” Marinette asks.

“Yeah! Ravenclaw’s tryouts are being held in three days!” Bart replies. “I’ve been a Chaser for the last two years, but tryouts still make me nervous.”

Marinette hums thoughtfully. “Who do I see to sign up? I would like to try out for Seeker.”

“Really?” Bart lights up. “Our last Seeker graduated last year, this is perfect! Ravenclaw’s captain is Tatsu Yamashiro. She’s a sixth year and kinda scary, but an awesome beater. You don’t need to sign up, just show up to the Quidditch pitch at 10 am on Saturday.”

“I’ll be there.” Marinette smiles. “Do you play Quidditch, Tim?”

Tim shakes his head. “Everyone else in my family does, but I prefer to keep my feet firmly planted on the ground, thank you very much. I’ll cheer both of you on from the stands at tryouts, and hopefully the games too.”

“It’s such a travesty!” Bart dramatically wails. “Dick was a great Chaser, Cass has only let six goals pass her in her entire career as Keeper, Jason is the best Beater Hogwarts has seen in twenty years, and Damian is shaping up to be a vicious one as well!”

Marinette grimaces. “Suddenly, I’m kind of glad Cass is a seventh year. Playing Hufflepuff sounds terrifying right now.”

Captain Tatsu Yamashiro is definitely what Marinette would call intimidating. She stands straight-backed, her midnight hair chopped at the shoulders and a Beater’s bat resting easily in her hand. 

Marinette is one of three people to try out for the position of Seeker. She volunteers to go first and get it over with.

“I will be throwing up three hundred Muggle golf balls.” Tatsu states. “You will attempt to catch as many of them as possible. In the end, whoever catches the most golf balls in five minutes will become Seeker. You may take your position.”

Marinette kicks off into the air. Tatsu points her wand at the cart of golf balls, and they start flying in all directions, fluttering as if they were Snitches. Marinette dips and weaves through the air, grabbing the golf balls using every means possible. She drops the balls immediately after snatching them out of the air in order to make room for more.

In the end, she gets 289 of the 300 golf balls. The other Ravenclaws aren’t even close.

Bart easily out flies all the other hopeful Chasers and makes every single shot he takes at the goals.

They both exit the pitch with places on the team and grins on their faces. Tim produces a bag of a Muggle food called Chicken Whizzies that Bart apparently loves, sent by Alfred, that they eat in celebration.

* * *

Marinette’s schedule becomes even more packed with Quidditch practice three days a week. Tatsu is a very strict captain, and has them running drills and formations for precisely two hours, rain or shine.

The team’s hard work pays off though, and by the time their first game rolls around one month into the school year, Marinette is confident that Ravenclaw will beat Gryffindor.

Tim promises to cheer for her and Bart in the stands. “We can get butterbeer in the afternoon to celebrate if you win, and if you don’t, it’ll be a comfort food.” Bart elbows him.

The first Hogsmeade visit of the year is also this afternoon, and Marinette has heard many great things about the village. The daydreaming will have to wait until after the match though. She needs to focus.

“The Gryffindor team is not to be underestimated.” Tatsu lectures right before they walk out. “Watch out for the Beaters. Todd and Harper are both very powerful. Do whatever you must to dodge the Bludgers unless you want to be sent to the hospital wing. On that note, good luck and fly well, team.”

The Ravenclaw team walks onto the pitch amidst cheers and boos from the crowd. Tatsu stiffly shakes hands with Kori Anders, the Gryffindor Captain, who looks like she is trying to crush her hand. To her credit, Tatsu does not flinch.

Mr. Allen blows his whistle to start the game and all four balls are released. Marinette kicks off into the air, going straight up to search for the Snitch as the other players scuffle for the Quaffle below.

“And they’re off!” Stephanie Brown, a fourth year Gryffindor, cheers from the podium. “Bart Allen snatches the Quaffle out of the air and makes a reverse pass to Traci Thurston, who dives underneath a Bludger sent by Roy Harper and passes to- aaand it’s intercepted by Kori Anders!”

“The Gryffindor Chasers are making a Hawkshead formation and steadily flying towards the goal. Anders does a sloth grip roll to avoid a Bludger hit by both Ravenclaw Beaters for extra power, but drops the Quaffle in the process. It’s scooped up by Allen again, there’s a reason why his nickname is Kid Flash, and he’s headed towards the goal post. Keeper La’gaan Psári attempts to intercept the Quaffle’s path, but Allen does a spectacular Dionysus Dive, leaping off his broom and punching the Quaffle into the left goal! The score is now 10-0 Ravenclaw.”

Marinette cheers from her position above the game, but a flash of gold catches her eye and she dives.

“Oh? Marinette Dupain-Cheng is diving? Has she seen the Snitch already? Gryffindor Connor Kent passes the Quaffle to Cassie Sandsmark, who is checked by Ravenclaw Chaser Asami Koizumi. Koizumi uses the Porskoff Ploy to pass to Allen, who is flying to the goal again…” 

The Snitch suddenly veers off to the right, and Marinette pulls out of her dive to follow, hand outstretched and eyes focused solely on the fluttering golden ball in front of her. The Gryffindor Seeker is a long ways away, and he will not be catching the Snitch anytime soon.

“Beater Jason Todd is hitting a Bludger towards the Ravenclaw Seeker. Ooh, that’s a fast one. Todd’s known for his viciousness and strength on the Quidditch pitch.”

Marinette’s hand closes around the Snitch as she hears the telltale whistling of a Bludger. There is a loud  _ crack _ , a sharp pain in her head, and then everything turns black.

“And Marinette Dupain-Cheng has caught the- Todd’s Bludger hits her in the back of the head, oh no, she’s slumping forwards- MERLIN’S BEARD SHE JUST FELL OFF HER BROOM SOMEBODY CATCH HER!”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the school year progresses, and so does Marinette and Tim's (very platonic, of course!) relationship

Marinette wakes up in a large room filled with sunlight. The first thing she sees is Tim’s worried face.

“Marinette! You’re awake!” He exclaims. Marinette frowns. 

“What happened? I just remember catching the Snitch, and then nothing.”

“Jason hit you in the back of the head with a Bludger.” Tim explains. “You got knocked out and fell off your broom, but Bart caught you. Doctor Thompkins fixed the crack in your skull, but she said you would have to wake up on your own.”

_ Tim looks adorable when he’s worried. _ Marinette thinks.  _ Wait. What? It must be the hit to the head I took. _

“Did we win?” 

Tim laughs shakily. “You had a fracture in your skull and you’re worried about whether or not you won? You did successfully catch the Snitch before your fall, so everyone agreed it was a win for Ravenclaw.” 

He suddenly remembers something. “You missed the Hogsmeade trip while you were out, so I brought you some saltwater taffy.” He hands her a box with the Honeydukes’ logo on it.

“You remembered it was my favorite!” Marinette beams. “Thank you, Tim!”

Tim’s heart does a Dick Grayson-like somersault in his chest when she smiles at him.  _ It’s just because I’m relieved she’s okay. Right? _

Bart comes barreling into the infirmary a moment later, eliciting a disapproving glare from Doctor Thompkins.

“Marinette! It’s so crash that you’re awake! Everybody’s been super worried!”

“Who’s everybody?” Marinette questions.

Bart shrugs. “Oh, you know. Tatsu and the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team, Jason Todd because he feels guilty since it was his bludger, Stephanie Brown and Cassie Sandsmark, and a couple others.”

“Um, is it okay for me to leave?” Marinette asks Doctor Thompkins. “I feel fine, and I would not want to disturb other patients with my visitors.”

Doctor Thompkins gives her permission to exit the infirmary, and Tim, Bart, and Marinette make their way back to the Ravenclaw Common Room.

After answering the eagle’s riddle (“What is it that given one, you’ll have either two or none?” “A choice.”), the entire Quidditch team ambushes them with food and drinks.

“What’s this?” Marinette blinks.

Bart puts an arm around her shoulders. “A party, of course! We won our first game of the season! Now it’s time to celebrate!”

Various members of the team come up to her and express their concern for her health, which is still disconcerting because her old classmates didn’t care at all. (“Yes, Asami-san, I am alright. My head feels fine. No, I am not experiencing any pain or dizziness. I suppose you can check if my pupils are dilated.)

Even their normally cold captain gives her a rare smile and pats her on the shoulder. “You played very well, Dupain-Cheng. I look forward to seeing you on the field again.”

Marinette grins. “Thank you, Tatsu-sensei.” She turns to the team and opens her arms. “Group hug?”

The Ravenclaw Quidditch team fling themselves onto each other in a hug as Tim stands awkwardly off to the side. Marinette snorts. “Aww, come on Tim, join the pile!” Helena, the other Beater, and Marinette detach to incorporate him into the fold.

“I love team bonding.” Bart sighs happily.

* * *

Jason stops by the Ravenclaw table at breakfast the next day and apologizes profusely for the Bludger.

“Really, it’s fine.” Marinette smiles. “It’s all part of the game, right? I know what I’m getting into when I go out onto the pitch.”

Jason is a pretty nice guy and always gets high grades, but Marinette notes that he seems to have problems with authority. He, Roy Harper, and Kori Anders are known as the Outlaws in the school. They set up elaborately constructed pranks to target people at random. 

Tim and Bart tell her all about the time two years ago when they charmed Professor Jordan’s clothing to stick to his skin, turned it neon pink, dumped a bucket of wizarding glitter (the super-sticky light-up kind) over his robes, and set a Muggle snare trap to suspend him by the ankle from the rafters of the Astronomy tower. It took two days for anyone to notice his absence, and a third to find him. It landed them in detention for two months, but the students secretly applauded their efforts. Nobody liked the History of Magic professor. He was just so  _ boring. _

Cassie Sandsmark and Stephanie Brown, two fourth-year Gryffindors, come by not long after. “Hello!” Stephanie says excitedly. “I’m Steph and this is Cassie! We’re friends of Timbo over here, but you don’t see us much because Gryffindor doesn’t share any classes with Ravenclaw this year.”

Next to her, Tim groans and buries his face on the table. 

“It’s nice to meet you!” Marinette smiles. “I saw you play yesterday, Cassie. You are a phenomenal Chaser. And Steph was the commentator, was she not?”

Cassie grins. “That’s right! You’re an amazing Seeker too, Marinette. Caught the Snitch not even ten minutes into the game.”

“On another note, can we talk to you alone for a moment?” Steph interjects.

They exit the Great Hall and find an unused empty classroom. “What’s up?” Marinette asks.

Steph and Cassie both grin. “Well, as Tim’s ex-girlfriends, we wanted to give you some tips for asking him out.” Cassie says.

Marinette turns red. “No, no, you must be mistaken. I do not like Tim in that way! We are just competitive friends and study partners!” Her hands are waving madly as she speaks frantically.

“Well, you will soon enough.” Steph hums. “I have a gut feeling, and my gut is never wrong. It’s part of the reason why I’m so good at Divination.”

Marinette doesn’t know how to respond to that, so she doesn’t.

“See, I had to actually walk straight up to him and kiss him for Tim to realize that I liked him romantically. Dropping hints and subtle flirting? Breezed right by his head.” Cassie says lightly.

Steph snickers. “ I hit him in the face with a brick. Then I upped the flirting to almost unbearable levels until he finally got the hint. ”

“So if you want to ask him out, you have to be obvious. Just go straight up to him and tell him you are romantically interested. He won’t figure it out any other way.” Cassie snickers.

“That is nice and all, but I do not have a crush on Tim, therefore this information is useless.” Marinette points out. Cassie and Steph just give her sly smiles and waltz out of the classroom.

One week later, Marinette is heading back to the Tower from Quidditch practice when she hears a commotion and decides to investigate. 

Three extremely large Slytherin kids in their year have Tim backed against the wall, his books strewn everywhere.

“Listen here, Drake.” The largest one (which Marinette automatically labels as Goon #1) hisses. “You are a disgrace to pure-bloods and your family name. So we’re gonna show you what happens when you get put into Ravenclaw and associate with the dirty commoners.” 

Tim looks mildly distressed, though that could be because his nearly complete 40-inch essay for Professor Kent had just been torn apart under Goon #3’s feet.

Goon #2 pulls out his wand, and Marinette decides to step in. “Really now? Harassing people for their heritage? As a Ravenclaw, I can proudly tell you that we only accept the smartest, most clever students. Tim being sorted into this house says a lot about his intelligence, just as your old-fashioned views on blood purity say a lot about yours. Shame on you.”

“None of your business,  _ mudblood. _ ” Goon #1 spits, and  _ okay, that is the last straw. _ Marinette draws her wand, all eleven inches of acacia and unicorn hair, and points it at him.

“You will apologize to Tim this instant.” She hisses. “I do not care for your insults or opinion of me, but you do not degrade my friends. Otherwise, I have a few new hexes I’ve been meaning to try out.” 

Marinette is aware that she probably doesn’t look very threatening, being 5’2” and all. But she was itching to teach these guys a lesson and put her mother’s Muggle martial arts lessons to use.

All three goons scoff, and one of them tries to hit Tim with a Jelly-Legs Jinx, but he is faster. “ _ Protego _ .” The spell ricochets wildly off the shield and Goon #2 ducks to avoid being hit. Tim turns to make eye contact with her for a split second, and there is something dangerous in his smirk that makes her insides tingle.

Marinette smiles. “ _ Redactum Skullus _ .” Goon #1 shrieks as his head starts shrinking, and Marinette cackles. “Oh look, your head’s finally the right size for your brain.”  _ Maybe that was a bit too mean, but whatever. _ Her brain comments.

Tim uses  _ Expelliarmus  _ on Goon #3, and it’s just Goon #2 left, facing off against both of them.

Marinette grins, delivers one swift kick to the groin, and he’s down. Tim’s brain sighs against his will.  _ That kick was hot. No, stop it! Bad brain! Stop ogling your very platonic friend! _

“For the record,” She nudges his head with her foot. “That was a Muggle move. You have been bested by a Muggle-born.” Goon #2 whimpers in response.

Tim gives a small sob at the sight of his Muggle Studies essay. “Utterly and completely destroyed. And I only had two inches left…”

Marinette rolls her eyes. “Timothy Jackson Drake-Wayne, you are a  _ wizard _ attending  _ magic school. _ ”

He blinks. “Oh. Right. It must be the caffeine.  _ Reparo. _ ” The essay knits itself back together, and Tim packs it carefully into his bag. “Thanks for the help.”

Marinette shrugs, smiling. “I’ve been wanting to do that for a while. Plus, that’s what friends are for, right?”

“Right.”

“What happened here?” The caretaker, Red Tornado’s angry voice fills their ears. 

“Oops.”

* * *

Tim and Marinette are turned over to their Head of House for punishment. 

Once Tornado shuts the door behind him, Professor Zatara leans forward and clasps her hands together, looking extremely stern.

“As you know,” She begins, as they both wince. “The punishment for using magic in the corridors is detention.  _ However _ , I fully approve of your actions. Tim, you used it in self-defense. Marinette, you were standing up for a friend. So, your ‘punishment’ is that you both must be in the Ravenclaw Common Room on Saturday from 2 to 5 pm. I believe that is when you usually hold a study session in the library?”

Tim nods. “Yes, Professor.”

Professor Zatara grins. “Good. Bring your homework. You may go.” 

They head back to the Common Room where Bart is sitting in an armchair, nervously tapping his foot at a rapid speed. He leaps up when he sees them.

“How’d it go? How much trouble are you in? Are you guys gonna be forced to clean the trophy room by hand without magic?”

Marinette shakes her head, smiling. “We’re grounded. Not allowed to leave the Common Room between 2 and 5 in the afternoon on Saturday.”

Bart looks confused. “But… that’s your study session time. And it’s the  _ Common Room. _ That’s it? No cleaning? No lines?”

“Nope.” Tim smirks. “Professor Zatara is the best. She just said to bring our homework.”

“That’s so crash!” Bart exclaims, then his face grows stern. “As much as I love you two kicking Slytherin butt, you can’t make a habit of it. Got it?”

Marinette sighs. “But it was kind of fun…” At Bart’s glare, she smiles. “Just kidding. I will not do it again unless absolutely necessary.”

“Same here.” Tim shrugs.

“As a Ravenclaw, I feel like I should be more concerned about the loopholes that statement leaves.” Bart mutters. “Now that there’s two of you, it’s way more terrifying.”

* * *

November comes, bringing the frigid winds with it. Students start bundling up before going outside. 

Marinette, being a designer and all, decides to put her skills to good use and charms her robes to be self-heating with a spell of her own design. She quickly does it for Tim, Bart, and the rest of her Quidditch team too. Flying at high speeds and altitudes in the increasingly cold air was not fun, and their uniforms weren’t going to get any thicker.

Ravenclaw wins another match against Slytherin, thankfully without anyone going to the hospital wing this time. Their house was currently second in the standings, only being topped by Hufflepuff. Cass Cain-Wayne was just too good of a Keeper. She’d been on the team since her second year, and had only let in six goals during all that time, three of which were during practice. The only way to beat Hufflepuff was to catch the Snitch before they scored fifteen goals on you. Trying to score on Cass? Near impossible.

Speaking of which, Hufflepuff was playing Slytherin today, and Marinette was looking forward to watching the Slytherins lose. Tim, who had charmed his schoolbag to have an infinite amount of space and to minimize the weight load (perks of reading way too much: you  _ learn things. _ ) had helped Bart stuff an absurd amount of sugary snacks and at least five bags of Chicken Whizzies for the match. The kid could seriously eat.

The three of them cheer as the Hufflepuff team, led by Cass, stride onto the field. Cass shakes hands with the Slytherin captain, a bulky guy Marinette can’t be bothered to remember the name of. 

Mr. Allen blows his whistle, releasing the balls into the air, and the players are off.

Steph is an endless source of chatter as she rapidly follows the game’s every move. The Hufflepuff chaser with the Quaffle is checked by a Slytherin, and another Slytherin picks up the Quaffle and flies for the goal.

“-Klarion’s taking the Quaffle toward the goal, swerving to avoid a nice Bludger sent by Cissie King-Jones, he’s taking aim-”

The Chaser feints left before throwing right, but Cass doesn’t even blink as she goes right to block the shot, sharply turning her broomstick to whack the Quaffle towards a Hufflepuff Chaser.

“And another spectacular save by Cassandra Cain-Wayne! She’s the best keeper Hogwarts has ever had, only letting three goals past in game, six in total.” 

Bart, Tim, and Marinette cheer. Tim’s blue eyes sparkle with excitement, and a smile of pure happiness is on his face, not mixed with sarcasm or an undertone of danger or tiredness. This smile is unbridled joy, and the sight makes Marinette’s heart beat faster. She grins back, smiling as wide as her facial muscles will let her.

Tim’s chest does that weird thing again when Marinette beams at him. She’s left her hair down today, and it’s a little windswept, giving her an adorable look.  _ She’s beautiful. What? In a platonic way. Yeah, definitely in a platonic way. Why is this happening to me? _

* * *

Soon enough, it is holiday season. Marinette makes plans to return to Paris, and Tim will return to his family’s manor.

On their last day before the break, Professor Zatara announces at breakfast that she put enchanted mistletoe over every doorway. Marinette and Tim are bickering about the practicality of veela hair in wands, and this tidbit of information flies straight over their heads.

They attend classes as usual, and then Marinette goes to Quidditch practice. It’s freezing today, so Tim decides to stay indoors instead. “I’ll meet you in the library for the study session?”

“Of course.” Marinette smiles. “See you later.”

Two hours later, she enters the library with windswept blue hair and sits across the table from Tim, as usual, opens her Arithmancy textbook, and starts her homework. Tim slides a thermos full of coffee across the table towards her, not looking up from his Ancient Runes essay.

Marinette gratefully accepts it, unscrews the lid, and downs half the contents in one go, careful to keep it out of Ms. Kyle’s line of sight. She may be more relaxed than, say, Professor Prince, but her nails look terribly sharp, and Marinette doesn’t want to get on her bad side. However, she does need her caffeine.

Just before dinner, Marinette gets out of her seat and stretches, feeling her bones crack. Tim does the same, and they tuck their books back into their school bags and exit the library.

Or try to, anyway.

When Tim tries to leave, he ricochets off an invisible barrier. Marinette experimentally sticks a foot out, but it’s like a solid wall that she can’t see. She turns around and tries to walk towards Ms. Kyle to ask for help, and her forehead smashes into another barrier. 

Great.

“Well, this is wonderful.” She grumbles, rubbing her forehead. Tim grimaces as he scans their surroundings.

“We’re trapped. Who do you think is behind this? Peeves, maybe?”

Marinette shrugs as she tries to find a weakness in a barrier she can’t even see. “I don’t know, but we’re going to be late for dinner and I’m starving. Jason, Roy, and Kory?”

Tim pales (a feat, considering how pale he already is), and she follows his gaze to a familiar parasitic plant above their heads.

“Or, it could be a professor trying to up the holiday cheer by putting enchanted mistletoe in every doorway.”

Marinette recalls every instance she’s seen of someone exiting or entering a classroom today, and realizes that they all entered one by one. She and Tim, however, probably missed the memo.

“Shit.” She says. “I’m never going to eat dinner now.”

Tim’s cheeks dust a pale pink. “Unless we kiss. Because you’re supposed to kiss when you’re under the mistletoe with somebody else, but we don’t have to do that, right? We could just wait. I mean, Ms. Kyle has to leave the library at some point, and people pass by the library all the time. Maybe one of them could help?”

“Yeah.” Marinette feels her own face heat up. “Let’s just wait.” Because kissing Tim, her best friend, would be weird. 

_ He is really attractive though. _ Her brain whispers.  _ Shut up, brain. _ She fires back. 

Five minutes later, when her stomach growls for what might as well be the billionth time, Marinette decides that she needs food in her system, and she needs it soon.

So she takes a deep breath, steeling herself, grabs Tim’s tie, and yanks him down so their lips meet.

Tim freezes, and Marinette knows she’s made a mistake. However, just as she starts to pull back, an apology already on the tip of her tongue, he kisses back, and  _ Merlin’s pants this feels good. _

His lips are warm and soft and taste like coffee and Marinette closes her eyes as a pleasant warmth fills her body. She can’t help the sigh that escapes her, and that’s what wakes both of them up.

As fast as lightning, they pull away, faces flaming red. Marinette looks anywhere but at Tim, feet scuffing the ground. 

What should she say?  _ I’m sorry I kissed you, it won’t ever happen again? Let’s just forget this and go back to being friends, since our feelings are obviously platonic? _

She knows that both of those things aren’t true. Marinette isn’t sorry she kissed Tim, and, judging by the fervor in which he kissed her back, his feelings for her weren’t platonic. Not by a long shot, though she could be reading him wrong and just hoping.

The question is, did she like Tim in that way? 

Everything she just did screamed yes, and part of her does too, but the other bit still insists that even if she did like Tim romantically, there’s no way he’d ever reciprocate her feelings.

Marinette sneaks a glance at Tim, who looks just as awkward as she does, if not more. 

Well, of course. She kissed him without warning. Anyone whose best friend kissed them out of the blue would be that way.

_ Good job, Marinette. You’ve ruined your friendship forever. _

“I-” She squeaks, and clears her throat. “I’m just- going to go now.”

She dashes out of the library and towards Ravenclaw Tower without waiting for a reply, appetite completely gone.

When she leaves, Tim’s hand twitches, as if it wants to reach out to her.  _ Wait,  _ he wants to say.  _ Come back.  _

But what would he say after that?  _ I don’t regret kissing you back at all? I just want us to be friends? _

Because neither of those are true.  He may have only realized it when she kissed him , but he does like Marinette romantically, and not only does he not regret kissing her, but he wants to do it again.

Judging by how Marinette ran, though, she didn’t feel the same way. Of course. Why would she, when she only kissed her best friend to escape the barriers so she could go to dinner?

Tim runs a hand through his hair, sighing, and makes his way to the Great Hall, resolving to talk to her about it at dinner.

When he arrives, though, Bart, Raven, Bridgette, and Allegra are the only Ravenclaws in their year at the table. Marinette is nowhere to be seen.

He waits for her to show all through dinner, barely touching his food and only nibbling on a sandwich after Bart pesters him, but she never shows.

_ Congratulations, Tim. You’ve ruined your friendship with her for good. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you can come find me on [tumblr](https://m3owww.tumblr.com/) if you want to harass me for that ending. I would be harassing myself if I wasn't the writer who's already gotten most of it planned out.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boy and girl are confused, but they know one thing- 
> 
> The other cannot know about their feelings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried something a little different. The descriptions might be confusing for some, but they are identified eventually.

Marinette doesn’t get much sleep that night. She lies on her bed, curtains drawn shut, and stares at the Muggle glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling that she helped Bridgette and Allegra install while Raven directed them from behind a massive star chart.

A single finger traces out all the constellations she knows as her mind whirs with today’s events.

She kissed Tim. Kissed her best friend. Locked lips with her best friend and enjoyed every moment of it.

It wasn’t like she hadn’t kissed anyone before. There was that brief period where she was with Adrien, but that was all a ruse. An attempt, on his part, to take advantage of her crush to get her to stop trying to expose Lila.

Kissing Tim had so much more feeling behind it. Kissing Adrien had always felt like she was kissing a robot, someone who was doing it not because he wanted to, but he had to.

Tim was… different. In the past, she’d noticed that Tim was attractive. How could he not be, with his intelligent blue eyes and ebony hair and a smile that made her want to melt-

_ Okay. Deep breaths, Marinette. You’re getting a little off-topic, here. _

Anyways, Tim was beautiful. She’d noticed that. She’d seen the way other girls stared as he passed, the way they threw her jealous looks. She’d always shrugged it off, because it wasn’t like she was romantically interested in him.

Only, it turns out she was.

Because what else could explain her heart racing faster every time she remembers Tim’s grin the first time he tried a macaron from her parent’s bakery? The heat that rises to her face when she thinks of his laugh after Bart tells a funny joke? The inexplicable urge to be by his side at all times, even when she has a logical reason not to be, like right now? (She’s supposed to be sleeping! Why does she want to go see Tim and hold his hand?)

Marinette rolls onto her side, running her hand over the smooth royal blue sheets.

It’s just a crush. Tim doesn’t feel the same way, so there’s no point in even entertaining the possibilities.

She’s lucky that Winter Break officially starts tomorrow, and that she’ll be going back to Paris.

Not seeing or contacting Tim for the whole Winter Break should be enough to squash these stupid feelings of hers.

On the opposite end of Ravenclaw Tower, a boy clad in Robin-patterned pajamas lays on his own royal blue sheets, stares up at his dormitory ceiling, and sighs.

The bed next to him rustles. “Merlin’s eyebrows, Tim, what’s up with you? That’s the twelfth sigh in, like, five minutes and it’s been  _ hours _ since curfew.”

“Sorry, Bart.” Tim says. “Ignore me. I’m just… thinking through some things.”

The other bed rustles again, and a pair of feet land lightly on the polished wooden floors, padding over to his bed. “Permission to enter?”

Tim opens the curtains and shifts to make room for Bart, who crosses his legs and leans forward, the lightning bolts on his pajamas flickering in the moonlight.

“So, what’s got you so, I don’t know, moody? This is a bit unusual, even for you, Tim.”

Bart was his first friend at Hogwarts, and he knows Tim the best. Tim knows he can tell Bart anything.

He sighs again. “It’s Marinette.”

Bart nods seriously. “Ohh. Let me guess. You kissed her, and realized that maybe your feelings for her weren’t only of the platonic kind?”

“Wait. Wha- How did you know?” Tim would have expected this from Steph. Bart didn’t usually bother paying attention in Divination.

His roommate shrugs. “Professor Zatara did announce she was putting up enchanted mistletoe this morning at breakfast. You two were debating veela hair though. I thought it might happen, given how you go almost everywhere together. Plus, your feelings were kind of obvious.”

“You think it was obvious?” Tim doesn’t mean to make it sound quite that… panicky, but if Marinette knew that he liked her romantically (though she probably did, already), then their friendship was truly irreparable.

Tim had grown to really, really enjoy Marinette’s company in the past few months. He isn’t sure how well he’d take being so close to her all the time, but distant all the same.

Bart waves a hand. “Relax, Marinette may be super sharp-witted and observant when it comes to everything else, but she’s as oblivious as they come when it comes to feelings. She doesn’t know, Tim. I swear on my last bag of Chicken Whizzies.”

That was a deep promise. Bart really, really loved his Chicken Whizzies. Tim smiles at the auburn-haired boy. “Thanks, Bart.”

Bart grins. “No problem, Tim! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go back to bed and catch some z’s. Jaime’s gonna murder me if he thinks that I haven’t been getting enough sleep.” He darts out under Tim’s curtains. Tim hears him flop onto his own bed, and within minutes, there are light snores drifting from Bart’s direction.

Tim lays back on his pillow and bites his lip to keep from sighing again. Three weeks of being home and general holiday festivities should keep his mind off her, right? It would be easier to get rid of these annoying feelings for Marinette if he doesn’t see her or contact her for the entirety of Winter Break.

Why can’t his brain understand that Tim just wants to be friends with Marinette, and that it’s not possible for him to do that if he’s also thinking about holding her hand and kissing her?

* * *

The sun rises, sending golden light through the windows of Ravenclaw Tower, and on opposite ends, two people rise with it.

A dark-haired girl wearing ladybug pajamas startles as her blonde roommate flings open the curtains surrounding her bed, tries to get up, forgetting that she’s wrapped in her blankets, and falls to the floor with a  _ thump _ in a heap of blanket and human.

A blue-eyed boy in robin pajamas rubs his eyes and stretches like a feline before greeting his roommate, who is racing around the dormitory and stuffing his possessions in his trunk.

A petite French girl uses  _ Wingardium Leviosa _ to lift her trunk, filled to the brim with textbooks and clothing and all sorts of wizard trinkets that her Muggle parents will love, even after three expansion charms.

A raven-haired boy frowns when his trunk won’t close, opens it again and pulls out a Charms book, flipping through it until he finds the spell he is looking for. With a satisfied smile, he casts it, and the trunk lid is pulled shut by gravity now that his things have more space.

At the exact same time, a boy and a girl walk down two bronze staircases and make eye contact, ice blue meeting sky blue, at the bottom.

They both stare for a moment, wondering whether or not to speak, and decide against it, turning away.

Both are disappointed that the other did not initiate a conversation.

* * *

Breakfast is served at the usual time, with the boy and his roommate sitting at one end of the blue and bronze table, and the girl sitting with hers at the opposite end.

Both sneak glances at the other when they think no one is looking, but people notice.

A seventh year with short dark hair and the uncanny ability to read people’s movements. Two blonde Gryffindors, one with a purple headband and the other with silver star-shaped earrings. A auburn-haired boy with a love for Chicken Whizzies. A Gryffindor with a white streak in his dark hair, with a redhead on either side. The oldest son of the Muggle Studies professor. A purple-haired girl, unnaturally pale, with a penchant for sarcasm. A blonde Ravenclaw with a musical name and musical talents. A dark-haired, blue-eyed girl with hair pulled into pigtails that looks almost exactly like her roommate. A first year Slytherin with a large collection of swords who is almost never seen without a Gryffindor boy at his side.

These people notice, but the boy and girl in question remain oblivious.

* * *

The boy and girl board a scarlet train at the same time, but enter different cabins.

The girl sits with her roommates and they talk about the latest fashion, both wizard and Muggle, and eat many, many Chocolate Frogs. She opens her last bag of saltwater taffy from the latest Hogsmeade visit and reminisces about her first Quidditch match of the season, and what came afterwards.

The boy sits with his roommate, two blonde Gryffindor girls, and a burly Gryffindor Chaser with artfully tousled dark hair. The boy uses the immense wealth of his families, both the pureblood one he was born into and the one he was adopted into, to purchase a multitude of snacks from the trolley. They go over the latest Quidditch standings and discuss all sorts of things, but it eventually comes around to romantic interests.

“So, have you asked Tim out yet?” The girl’s roommate, the one who looks eerily similar to her, leans forward, blue eyes twinkling.

“Have you finally gotten the guts to ask Marinette out yet?” The Gryffindor boy reclines against the red seat, tossing a Bertie Botts’ Every Flavor Bean into the air and catching it in his mouth.

The girl turns bright red. “Bridgette!” She whines, and stuffs a Chocolate Frog in her mouth to avoid answering any further questions.

The boy buries his face in his hands. “Kon! Seriously?”

“You guys are literally two peas in a pod. Plus, you act like a married couple already.” The musically inclined blonde points out. “And you did admit he was hot that one time Raven snuck fire whiskey into our dorm.”

“I mean, my gut says you two are gonna be the power couple of all power couples, and my gut is never wrong.” A different blonde in a different train car, this time wearing a purple headband, points out. “You’ve said that she’s pretty before, remember? Bart brought that weird alcoholic concoction his grandma makes and you were completely loopy after three sips.”

“Alcohol was a bad idea. I told you it was a bad idea, Allegra, and you made me drink it anyway.” The girl groans.

“The stuff Bart’s grandma makes is not normal. I said it was a bad idea, but nooo. Steph does what Steph wants, and she drags the rest of us down with her.” The boy mutters.

“You’re avoiding the topic!” A purple-haired girl and a blonde girl with star earrings sing in unison on opposite ends of the train. “Now, tell us-”

“Do you think Tim is handsome, yes or no?”

“Do you think Marinette is beautiful, yes or no?”

“Yes.” The girl and boy say at the same time, faces dusted in pink.

“Do you like Tim romantically, yes or no?”

“Do you like Marinette romantically, yes or no?”

“Yes.” They say, and curl in further on themselves.

“Great!” A blonde Ravenclaw cheers. “Now, you ask him out.”

“Now that you’ve gotten your feelings sorted, you ask her out.” The Gryffindor boy says.

“But what if he doesn’t-”

“But what if she doesn’t-”

“He won’t.” The girl’s roommates chorus as one, at the same time the boy’s friends say “She won’t.”

“Okay.” The boy and girl say in unison. “Okay. I’ll think about it.”

* * *

The Hogwarts Express arrives at Platform 9 ¾, and the students exit through the wall into King’s Cross Station.

The girl smiles and is engulfed in a bear hug by her father, and her mother presses a kiss to her forehead. She inhales the scent of freshly baked bread and it makes her forget about her current dilemma for a moment.

The boy and his brothers, father, and sister are greeted by their butler that was more of a grandfather and his eldest brother, now an Auror at the Ministry. Hugs are plentiful, and smiles even more so. The ride home is filled with raucous laughter and terrible puns, and he takes it all in, trying to forget about the issue so present in the front of his mind.

The girl enters her family’s bakery for the first time in months, going up through the trapdoor to her room. 

She opens her trunk and takes out the moving photos from inside a hidden pocket, pictures of her and the boy, sometimes with another smiling auburn-haired boy or two cheery blondes. Some are just of the boy, asleep in a pile of homework, taking a nap under a tree, clasping a butterbeer at Hogsmeade with flushed cheeks from the cold.

She pins them all to the bulletin board above her bed.

The boy opens the door to his bedroom, bed made with military precision but everywhere else filled with Muggle gadgets and books and parchment and the occasional quill, and manages to clear enough space to set down his trunk. 

His hand finds the pictures first, the ones he tucked inside a tiny bit of ripped lining. In most of them, he and the girl are smiling at the camera, arms draped across each other’s shoulders. Sometimes with others, usually without. Some are pictures of the girl in her royal blue Quidditch robes, soaring above everyone else as her eyes search for a tiny golden ball. He took those from the stands far below. Some are candids of her when she’s working, tip of her tongue poking out in concentration as she writes the final words of an essay, her surprise at being pelted with a snowball, curled up by the fireplace in the Common Room, fast asleep.

The boy smiles as he goes through the pictures and tucks them into his bedside drawer.

The holidays usually go by fairly quickly for both of them, but this year, everything seems to move at a snail’s pace.

Day after day, they resist the temptation to send an owl. The boy’s family owl is Ace, a large barn owl that had been in their family since Dick was a first year. The girl owns an Eastern Screech Owl named Tikki. Means of communication are not an issue.

Their feelings, however, are definitely an issue. The girl does not contact the boy in hopes that it will stop the romantic feelings for him, because he only sees her as a friend and that is all they will ever be. The boy does not contact the girl for the same reason.

Slowly, the holidays pass without a word between them, and then they return to school.

* * *

The train ride to Hogwarts has the same layout as the train ride away from the school two weeks prior.

The girl sits with Bridgette, Allegra, and Raven. The boy sits with Bart, Steph, Cassie, and Kon. They discuss a multitude of things, and purposefully avoid the topic of their love lives.

Then, on the first night back, the girl can’t sleep. Usually, when her brain refuses to stop, she slips down to the Common Room to curl up by the fireplace and study. So that is what she does.

She forgets that the boy does not sleep well either, and that he also passes time in the Common Room, studying cold cases and occasionally solving a couple.

Usually, they sit close to each other and bask in the comfort of each other’s presence. 

But tonight, when the boy hears someone come downstairs, and when the girl sees the boy at his table, they make eye contact and freeze.

_ Do it. _ Their minds whisper.  _ Tell them how you feel. _

Instead, the girl silently turns around and goes back to her dormitory, opting to use  _ Lumos  _ from inside the small space her bed’s curtains provide instead.

The boy turns back to the case he has been studying, but finds that he can’t concentrate on the words before him for the rest of the night.

* * *

Their avoidance of each other and refusal to acknowledge the tension between them affect the other students in their classes, too.

Before, the boy and girl would have competed with each other in class, answering all the questions and leaving the other students to do their own thing.

Now, the other students are frequently called upon when neither hand shoots up, and are more often than not left floundering for an appropriate response.

Before, their grades were higher than ever, thanks to their study sessions and encouragement of the other.

Now, the girl finds her Ancient Runes and Arithmancy grades falling, and the boy’s Charms and Herbology scores leave a lot more room for improvement.

* * *

The girl is distracted in training by the distinct lack of a raven-haired figure in the stands. Her captain pulls her aside.

“We play Hufflepuff next week.” Tatsu says seriously. “We are depending on you to catch the Snitch. The rest of us are just there to keep the other Chasers from scoring fifteen goals first.”

Because trying to score on Hufflepuff’s keeper is hopeless. Cass hasn’t let in a single goal since her third year.

This is up to her. The girl nods determinedly, mounts her broom again, and kicks off into the air as her team starts another drill.

* * *

The boy is accosted by his younger brother on the way to dinner.

“Drake, I do not see why you are moping. It is obvious that you have feelings for her. You must act on them.”

He sighs. “Damian, there’s no guarantee that she’d-”

“Tt.” The first year Slytherin interrupts. “As if anybody could turn down a Wayne.”

It’s the first time Damian has acknowledged that the boy is part of the family, too. He smiles. A tiny one, sure, but a smile nonetheless.

“Thanks, Damian.”

His brother simply sniffs haughtily before returning to a waiting Jon Kent.

* * *

The day before the game, the girl finds herself alone in the Owlery with the boy’s older sister.

“You love him.” Cassandra Cain-Wayne says, melting out of the shadows and startling her.

“I’m sorry, was I thinking too loud?” The girl asks, making a mental note not to project her thoughts too loudly. Cass was a trained Leglimens, after all. She liked keeping some secrets close to her heart.

“No.” The older girl shrugs, and gestures to her. “Do not need Legilimency to see love written all over your body when you look at him.”

The girl blushes. “Well, I do have feelings for him, yes, but I wouldn’t say ‘love’-”

“Love.” Cass says simply, and the girl blinks.

In the fraction of a second that her eyes were closed, Cass has managed to disappear.

* * *

The boy is beginning to see a pattern. His older brother also manages to get him alone.

“Timbo, you’re obviously smitten with her. Just ask her out already.” Jason says, and he resists the urge to sigh again.

“But she doesn’t like me back-”

“Bullshit.” Jason interrupts. “That girl is head over heels for you.”

Is she? She sure doesn’t act like it.

The boy realizes that he’s said it aloud when Jason snorts. “Look, Tim, why are you avoiding her?”

“Because I have these weird romantic feelings for her and I don’t want to ruin our friendship!”

“Yeah, well, that friendship doesn’t look very intact anyway, does it.” Jason mutters. “Why do you think she’s avoiding you?”

The boy frowns. “Oh, I don’t know, maybe because she kissed her best friend to get out from under the enchanted mistletoe but then he kissed back like an idiot?”

His older brother tilts his head. “Have you ever considered that she may be avoiding you for the same reason that you’re avoiding her?”

The boy stops for a moment, thinking, and  _ huh, that makes sense. _ It is the logical conclusion, but the emotional part of his brain screams to not take that chance.

But like Jason said, their friendship isn’t exactly being preserved while they’re avoiding each other, is it?

One month after the holidays, after being (mostly) successful at avoiding each other, Bart, Steph, Cassie, Kon, Bridgette, Allegra, and Raven plot to lock them in a room together.

They end up trapped in the Room of Requirement, which has been instructed not to let them out until they confess.

Great.

The girl avoids eye contact with the boy, choosing to glare at the wall instead. Of course her friends would lock her in a room instructed not to let her out until both occupants truthfully confess their love for each other, when the boy only sees her as a friend.

She’s going to be here a long time, and it’s going to be super awkward to boot.

The boy thinks a little differently. He has been considering what Jason said, and the pink dusting the girl’s cheeks right now, similar to his own, is promising.

He nervously fidgets with his fingers, and clears his throat.

The girl decides that she needs to get it out of her head, whether he likes her or not. She exhales and turns around.

Sky blue eyes meet ice blue ones.

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

“Timothy Jackson Drake-Wayne.”

“Will you go out with me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ψ(｀∇´)ψ

**Author's Note:**

> come harass me on [tumblr](https://m3owww.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
